Deputy Minister: Over the past two years, Armenia has managed to  minimize water releases from Lake Sevan

ArmInfo. Over the past two years, Armenia has managed to minimize water releases from Lake Sevan.  Deputy Minister of the Environment Irina Kaplanyan stated  this on November 6 at a hearing in parliamentary commissions on the  draft state budget of the country in 2021.

According to her, this result was achieved thanks to systematic work.  As is known, additional water releases from the lake were previously  associated with ineffective water resources management. Thus, the  problem of Lake Sevan is directly related to the problem of  maintaining the country's water resources at the proper level - with  the development of the appropriate infrastructure, due control by  water user companies.  The Deputy Minister stated that along with the  rise in the level of the lake, there is a problem of coastal forests,  which may end up under water and start to rot. Previously, the  cleaning of coastal forests was not carried out at the proper level,  which led to problems. Criminal cases have already been initiated on  this issue. There is also a methodological problem in clearing  forests. Until recently, the cleaning of the lake from forests was  carried out using space images, but in reality, the volume of  cleaning turned out to be much larger when studying the issue on the  ground. There is a lot of work to be done. In particular, the  construction of the Gavar-Martuni water pipeline is nearing  completion. Here it remains to solve the problem of several meters of  pipelines to connect them to the main water supply. A number of  measures for the conservation and reproduction of the Sevan ecosystem  will be carried out for a 5 million euro grant from the European  Union.

It should be noted that measures are being taken on the lake to clean  up the coastal areas, primarily the flooded forests. In total, it is  necessary to clean up about 750 hectares of areas around the lake.  The cleaning program is designed for 2019-2021. Last year, 98  hectares of territories were cleared, this year it is planned to  carry out similar work on another 271 hectares, of which 50 hectares  of territory have already been cleared in 2020. Another problem is  construction projects that need to be dismantled. In total, there are  1,724 such buildings, of which 31 are the property of the state and  local communities. In 2020, it is planned to dismantle 24 buildings  at the expense of the state budget. As for the buildings of private  individuals, agreements have been concluded with them on dismantling  on their own. With the Ministry of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia and "Veolia Jur" company,  a program for the construction of biological treatment plants in the  cities of Gavar, Martuni and Vardenis will be implemented. The  feasibility study of the project should be completed by the end of  this year, after which construction work will begin. Also, a program  for the construction of local treatment plants is being implemented  with large business entities, of which 17 have already been  installed. The EU has provided Armenia with a grant of 5 million  euros to solve the lake's problems, and the directions of using these  funds are currently being discussed. First of all, attention will be  paid to preventing sewage and solid waste from entering Sevan. In  order to combat poaching and illegal fishing, whitefish fishing is  allowed by the government decision. This year this volume will be 200  tons. This measure has only one goal - to translate the problem into  the legal field. In addition, this year, 300 thousand ishkhan fry  were released into the lake; a project to restore the population of  the kogak, which, in fact, is the orderly of Lake Sevan, is under  development.

It should be noted that Lake Sevan is the main source of drinking  water in the region, one of the largest alpine lakes in Europe and  Asia, located in the very heart of the Armenian Highlands, at an  altitude of 1,914 meters. This year, like last year, blue-green algae  bloomed in large quantities in the lake, after which the Ministry of  Health of Armenia urged the country's residents not to swim in these  parts of the lake, since these algae are toxic. In turn, the  "blooming" of Sevan caused serious concern of ecologists, who sounded  the alarm. Moreover, the experts stated that it is necessary to take  appropriate measures and save Sevan.  Two versions are put forward as  the reasons for the flowering of Sevan, according to the first - the  cause is the spread of blue-green algae, as the second - a decrease  in the water level in the lake.